Thursday 1 August 2013 16.47 EDT
First published on Thursday 1 August 2013 16.47 EDT

The St Johnstone manager Tommy Wright admitted his side's Europa League win in Belarus would not have won points for beauty.

St Johnstone followed up their remarkable success over Rosenborg by beating Minsk 1-0 in Grodno in the first leg of the third qualifying round tie. Steven MacLean's 68th-minute strike means Saints will return to McDiarmid Park for next week's second leg with a precious away goal.

Wright told BBC Radio Scotland: "I don't think we reached the highs that we did in beating Rosenborg in terms of performance. We were workmanlike. It was quite warm out there and very sticky and a few looked a bit heavy legged.

"But they only really caused us problems on the counterattack. They were not breaking us down. It wasn't pretty, because they are not a pretty side to play against but we got the result we deserved.

"We knew they were not technically better than Rosenborg but had pace up front. However, it is only half-time and we will not take anything for granted."

St Johnstone were not put under too much pressure by the home side and built on their comfortable start to snatch a first-leg lead with MacLean's fierce hit midway through the second period.

The former Aberdeen and Sheffield Wednesday striker collected Liam Caddis's pass before taking advantage of space to shoot early on the right-hand side of the box, burying the ball under the goalkeeper Vladimir Bushma.

At Fir Park, Motherwell were beaten 2-0 by Russian side Kuban Krasnodar, with Ivelin Popov scoring both goals in the second half.

Ibrahima Baldé was a constant danger for the visitors and could have had a hat-trick before he set up Popov to score the opener.

Motherwell hit back with a period of sustained pressure but conceded again when Stevie Hammill gave possession away after Kuban had cleared a corner. Popov punished them on the counterattack.

Motherwell almost gave themselves a glimmer of hope in added time but the striker John Sutton headed against the post from a Zaine Francis-Angol cross.